Kane ‘unlikely’ to appear before Senate panel mulling her removal

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane might be a no-show at the special hearing scheduled next Tuesday by the Senate committee considering her ouster.

Spokesman Chuck Ardo said Wednesday that the embattled official is still considering how she will respond to the panel, but it is “unlikely that she will appear personally.”

“I haven’t heard anything that would indicate that she intends to have lawyers representing her at the committee,” Ardo said. “But … this is all a work in progress.”

He said he expects her to issue a response to the panel on the morning of the hearing.

Senators say a little-used provision of the state Constitution gives them the power to request that the governor remove the elected attorney general. Their chamber voted unanimously in December to go forward with the process in light of Kane’s suspended law license, which stemmed from her criminal indictment on perjury and other charges.

Kane maintains her innocence, and has called the Senate’s efforts unconstitutional.

The governor, a fellow Democrat, has called for Kane’s resignation, but she has vowed to fight efforts to drive her from office.